THE different day my neighbour gave me some windfall Bramley apples. (They must be windfalls – that is the tree and I don’t see how you could possibly choose the fruit with out risking your life.)
The identical day Alan got here dwelling with a few consuming apples from a field marked ‘Assist Your self’ exterior a home within the village. So I believed I’d have a go at a blackberry and apple crumble. There’s a good crop of blackberries close to right here.
That is my haul:
Listed below are the apples:
I sliced the apples (not the rotten bits, clearly),
put the blackberries on high
scattered some brown sugar over, made a crumble topping with flour, butter and brown sugar and lined the fruit,
put it within the oven at 180C for 50 minutes, et voila!
It was very satisfying to make one thing with ‘foraged’ components. I’d have appreciated the crumble to be extra crumbly – I ponder if including oats could be good?
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There may be plenty of ivy spherical right here and it’s coming into flower. It should be a godsend for bugs now that the wildflowers are nearly completed (although groundsel remains to be going sturdy – it has the longest flowering season of all of the wild vegetation I do know.) I handed this ivy hedge yesterday morning and the bugs have been very busy, as I hope you’ll be able to see.
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Sheep of the week
Uniquely, the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep is available in two colourways, every the reverse of the opposite.
That is the Torddu sort:
And that is the Torwen sort.
Torddu means black stomach and Torwen means white stomach, although why on earth you’ll identify an animal after its least seen attribute beats me. The white model is thrice extra frequent than the darkish, however what I’ve not been in a position to uncover, regardless of losing fairly some time on the web, is whether or not the completely different colors seem randomly or whether or not you want two mother and father with the identical color. Rams have horns; ewes don’t.
The breed is believed to be one of many oldest in Britain, having been in Wales for the reason that first century AD or earlier. Its origins are usually not identified however the face markings are much like the wild Mouflon sheep.
It is vitally hardy and stated to have scrumptious meat.
Here’s a video.
You’ll find out extra concerning the breed on the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society.
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Wheels of the week
This magnificence is a 1952 Jowett Jupiter.
Jowett was based in Bradford in 1901 by brothers Benjamin (1877–1963) and William (1880–1965) Jowett with Arthur V Lamb as a bicycle agency. Their first motor automobile went into manufacturing in 1910.
After the Second World Struggle the agency produced the Jowett Javelin, thought of to be a complicated design which might do 80mph. This was joined by the Jupiter in 1950.
A automobile examined by Motor journal in 1950 had a high velocity of 86.1 mph and accelerated from 0-60 mph in 18 seconds with gasoline consumption of 25.1 miles per gallon. It value £1,086 (£30,000 now, in line with the Financial institution of England inflation calculator) together with taxes. Right now a Jaguar XK120 value £1,263.
Jupiters have been in demand till Jowett ceased making automobiles in 1954. In all 825 have been produced.
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FINALLY, a reminder that reader Kathy Nel (‘linuslimmy’) is collating anecdotal proof about chicken and bug numbers, both will increase or decreases (and even static). Ship your feedback and observations to this tackle: missingcritters@yahoo.com. For those who go away a remark under the road, we’d like a geographical location to have the ability to use it.
